Are children destined to be violence prone?

Question

The role of biology/chemistry is interesting but is it destiny? Or are we labeling children with poor genes thus reinforcing they are bad?

Answer 1

With an issue as complex as violence, biology is never destiny.

Answer 2

Biology and genes aside, humans are always responsible for their own actions, and when it comes to violence anyone can choose to control themselves. It all comes down to choice.

Ultimately all humans are "violence prone" we are animals. All animals are violent to a degree. People are no different, except we are much more complex, which gives us so many more things to be violent about.

Ultimately it is up to parents to raise their children to clearly distinguish between right and wrong, and to value other people's rights and lives. And it is up to society to harshly punish criminals so that others are deterred from behaving violently.

Answer 3

If no chemical imbalance or mental deficits were present and we relied only on intelligence and development (all else being equal), the deciding factor I would think would be intelligence. Problem solving would simply be a maturity thing (emotional and intellectual intelligence) so that the less mature responded according to immediate need and gratifications whereas the more mature in both categories of intelligence would respond to knowledge that compromise would present more long term benefits with cohesion of the group and a sense of responsibility to the larger group rather than only of self interests.

But that's my thoughts.  Violence is a developmental stage and without guidance from adults, childrens predispositions are simply too egotistical (self-centered) to problem-solve any other way in the earliest stages.